Family love
"Have you brought the will?" Jane asked Emma and Phil Gladworth obviating any pleasantries, just as they had done on arriving at the station.
Their lawyer opened his briefcase and handed over a yellow file.
Jane and Korsak excused themselves and left the interrogation room to review the will's contents.
Dorothy's will was made out to Elizabeth Benson. In the event of Elizabeth's death, most of the very large sum of cash would be used to set up a trust fund, using one of the two properties listed as a base for a charity to be created, "Safe Haven".
A lawyer, Mr. Donald Walden, would be in charge of the trust fund and administering the foundation until he found a suitable replacement.
A generous sum, even if insignificant in comparison to the large share, would go to a trust fund for her grandsons, and meant to be used exclusively for their college education.
Finally, the elder grandson, Michael, got a healthy trust fund just for himself, but he had to wait until turning 21.
"They can afford Harvard with the small change of the will." Jane scoffed.
"It looks like the only beneficiary in the family is the grandson. Maybe we are talking to the wrong Gladworth." Korsak looked inside the room through the double mirror.
Jane shook her head. "The kid is not even at college. Dorothy wouldn't have lived to see him turning 21. He didn't need to kill her to get the money; he can't touch it anyway. But the Gladworth family can still contest the will."
"Do you think any judge in this town, or any town, will allow a rich family to take money away from a charity trust fund?" Korsak shook his head, pensive.
"Yeah. Anyway, let's see what they have to say."
Back in the room, Jane left the file on the middle of the table before taking a seat.
"Is your family okay with this?" She pointed at the file.
The lawyer placed a hand on Phil's forearm, and spoke instead. "The Gladworth family respect Mrs. Longhorn's wishes. The testament will not be contested."
Phil winced discretely but nodded, his head held high and defiant. Emma remained silent, betraying no thought or emotion behind the immaculate skin, but she shifted in her seat twice in under a minute.
Jane searched for Korsak's eyes, and raised an eyebrow, turning to Phil again.
"So you wouldn't mind then giving us access to your financial statements?" Jane smiled as pleasantly as she could.
The lawyer spoke for Phil. "We'll be glad to oblige, if you have a warrant. Do you any reason not to trust what my client is saying?"
Jane's eyes went dark. "We don't, but I'm sure you are aware that most murders of wealthy people this age are motivated by… money issues." She congratulated herself for omitting the word 'greed'.
Emma's head shot up at Jane, then at her lawyer. Phil sat up on the chair, but the lawyer raised his hand. "Are you implying my clients are suspects of murder? And because of… money?"
"No, we are not. But we need to cover all possibilities, as unpleasant as they may be. I'm sure you wouldn't mind assisting the BPD in a murder investigation."
"Of course not. As I say, I'll hand over anything you need, in exchange for a warrant. My clients have a right to protect their privacy, even if they have nothing to hide."
"We have one last question regarding the will. What was Mrs. Gladworth's relationship with Elizabeth Benson? She is the main beneficiary of the will."
Emma paled visibly, a first true sign of emotion since the interrogatory had started, but regain her composure almost instantly. "They were long time friends."
Jane forehead wrinkled, eyes waiting for a longer explanation that Emma did not provide.
"Long time, and very close, too, given Mrs. Gladworth left her most her estate."
Emma limited her response to a small twitch of her eyebrows and a curt nod. Her lips were pressed together tight, and Jane could tell an earthquake was brewing under the composed face.
"Elizabeth is dead. What happened does no longer matter, and I'm sure it had nothing to do with their deaths." Emma answered, her face once again calm.
"But it does, Mrs. Gladworth. We are facing a double homicide, and we cannot leave any stone unturned. We need to find out what happened to them that day, but also before, so we can catch whoever did this to them."
"And digging in the past would help you?" Emma sounded as if she thought the line of enquiry useless.
"Yes, it would. So, tell me more about Elizabeth Benson."
Emma kept looking down, not speaking. Her husband squeezed her hand, and took over. His face barely disguised the scorn Jane had seen during the first visit. "Elizabeth was not welcome in our family."
"And why is that? According to people we spoke to, Elizabeth was a kind, agreeable woman."
Emma raised her head; her eyes were bloodshot. The words were hissed, rather than spoken. "Elizabeth interfered with mother's marriage. My father and Elizabeth had a fight many years ago, and since then Elizabeth was invited not to visit us anymore."
"Interfered how?"
"That's not relevant. It was a personal matter, many decades ago, and it has been resolved. My father died last year, and I would prefer not to revisit this subject. I do not see how that incident years ago has anything to do with Mother's death."
Korsak face was relaxed, playing the good cop – something that came easy to him most of the time. He leaned back. "Can you think of anyone with a motive to hurt either of them?"
Phil shook his head. "Absolutely not. Beyond any family issues that were resolved behind closed doors, I can't name one unpleasant situation. She lived for others, through charities."
Korsak moved the interrogation into less rocky terrain. "Did Mrs. Gladworth have a nurse?" He looked at Emma, but it was Phil who answered.
"Yes, Maria Hartman. She is a very efficient and highly trained nurse. The best we could find. We hired her about three months ago to assist Dorothy. She had a room on the guest wing of the house. On Fridays we had a younger nurse covering in for her."
Korsak scribbled in his pad. "Where was Maria last Sunday, around 7 am?"
Emma picked up the question. "At home. I saw her at 6:55, when she came to tell us Mother was gone. She had gone to check up on Mother, as she did every morning before preparing breakfast for her."
"We'll need to speak to her. Can you please give us her contact details?" Jane waited until Emma searched in her phone, and recited a number and address
The interrogatory ended shortly after that and Jane was left with more questions than answers. It seemed a recurring pattern in her life these days. Couldn't help thinking of Maura, and the mere thought of her, of their upcoming dinner date sent an electric jolt right to her stomach. She realized then that she had not eaten a thing all day. She took her phone and went downstairs to grab a sandwich and work on appeasing her Ma.
Angela was overloaded with work, but seemed genuinely glad Jane had come to visit. She tried to give Jane a hug, and much to her surprise, she found no resistance, even though they were surrounded by all Jane's work colleagues.
A soft smile wrinkled her eyes when she saw her Ma return to work, happy again.
At least I can fix something.
She took the sandwich Angela had given her and headed back to the bullpen. She contacted Maria Hartman and left a message for Donald Walden, the lawyer, when it was already time to meet the Bensons.
Jim and Claudia Benson stood waiting for them downstairs, but lost inside their phones; Jim was talking and Claudia typing on her latest model of iPhone. The woman had her hair neatly tied in a low ponytail, and her glasses had a vintage look that felt almost as a signature in an otherwise forgettable face. At first glance, she seemed less uptight than Emma, and Jane welcomed the change.
Jim sat forward on his chair, hands linked together over the table. He seemed drained.
Jane had a hard time extracting any information from them regarding Elizabeth's relationship with Dorothy. Both Jim and Claudia gave her the same "it was personal, now it's over" discourse, trying to steer the conversation away from that topic. Jane tapped rapidly her pen on her pad for a while, until Korsak asked her to share her pen with him, effectively making her stop.
"Can you think of anybody who would want to hurt your mother?"
Jim's face tightened, lips stretched in a grimace. "No, not at all. But, to be honest, I didn't have much contact with her these past few months. I should have, but work and… you know." He shrugged. "She acted as if she didn't know who I was."
Jane looked down at her notes. "She had Alzheimer's Disease."
"Yes, but it wasn't that advanced yet. Her doctor told me that it was odd that she wouldn't recognize me, when she still recognized most everybody else. I guess she was not happy with me for leaving her there."
"Why did you?"
"As I said, work…" He looked at his wife. "We don't have the time to give her the proper care she needs. Needed."
"Where is your father?" Korsak scribbled a few notes while asking the question.
"Dad died about 3 years ago. Heart attack. After he passed away, she wanted to come to Boston but things here were not… ideal for her. So we invited her to live with us, in New York." Jim's features had darkened, as did his voice. He was crumbling, but it did not seemed grief. It seemed more like guilt.
"What do you mean?" Jane sat forward, her interest suddenly fueled with hope.
"She was very good friends with Dorothy, and she had always said that when dad died, she'd go and live with her."
"So why didn't she?" Korsak was just as engaged as Jane, and he shifted in his hard seat.
Claudia replied, as her husband stood silent, his head down. "We did not think that Dorothy was a good influence on Eli."
"Why not?"
"Something happened between Eli and Dorothy's husband, quite a few years ago. Since then, Eli was not welcomed in their circle anymore."
Jane raised her eyebrows, encouraging Claudia to go on, but the woman stayed silent.
"Was Mrs. Benson happy?"
Claudia shrugged almost imperceptibly. "We think she was. She had a good life. Her husband," She gently squeezed her husband's hand. "Jim's father was a good man. He gave her everything she ever needed and more."
"And since his death?"
"Well," Claudia tucked an invisible strand of hair behind her ear, casting her eyes down. "As Jim said, unfortunately we didn't get to see her that much, but Mrs. Wilkins kept us updated of her health and general state. She told us she was well, better than expected."
"Who is Mrs. Wilkins?" Jane put pen to her pad.
"She is her personal caretaker at the residence. Haven't you spoken to her?"
"No, but we will, thanks." Jane did not feel like pushing the Bensons, as much as she did not understand how someone could dump a parent in a residence 200 miles away, and not get to see her often.
Korsak cleared his throat. "As I explained on the phone, we really need to see her will. Did you bring it with you?"
Jim nodded, and took a folder out of his computer bag.
He handed it over to Korsak, who followed Jane out of the room after excusing themselves.
Elizabeth Benson's will read exactly like Dorothy's, but the other way around. Elizabeth had considerably less money, and only a small property, but whatever she had, she had bequeathed to Dorothy. In the event of her death, everything would go to the same fund mentioned in Dorothy's will.
"You know, I'm starting to think that the only thing in common here is that trust fund. It'll inherit both their fortunes."
Korsak nodded. They went inside the room.
"It says in here that you would not inherit anything? Is that correct?"
Jim nodded, his lips forming a dejected half smile. "Yes. We don't need her money, but it came as a shocker to us to." He shrugged. "I'm sure this was one of Dorothy's ideas, I suppose. My mother was very influenced by that woman."
"So you will not contest it?" Korsak glanced at Jane.
Both Claudia and Jim answered in unison. "No, we won't. No reason to. Let bygones be bygones."
The questioning ended shortly after that. They went up to the bullpen, discussing a case that may still be a greed murder, but not involving the families. They stood by the board, adding new information and discussing the case for a while, until she realized what the time was.
The clock on the wall marked 5:34, which meant she had less than one hour and a half to go home, shower, change and meet Maura. Korsak was engrossed writing on his computer, two fat fingers hitting the keys as playing Whack-A-Mole.
"Korsak?"
"Hm?" He lifted his eyes over his glasses and the computer screen.
"I'm going to call it a day. Have stuff to take care of at home."
Korsak raised his bushy eyebrows. "Date time? Good for you."
"What? No! Why would you even say that?" Her voice sounded too upset, too offended. Guilty as charged. That was what her reply had really said, she realized with a sinking feeling.
The savvy sergeant shook his head, smiling. "Ok. I'd say 'have fun' but since you're not going on a date…"
Jane sneered and shuffled her desk in search of her phone. When she found it, she put her coat on and casually crossed the bullpen, waving over her shoulder.
Her pace shifted considerably as she headed for the elevator. This damn thing never takes this long. Jane convinced herself that pressing the button over and over again would speed the process up.
The traffic was one big jam, and then the car wouldn't steer wide enough to park well.
The water of her shower took way too long to warm up and the towel wouldn't dry her well enough.
Her reflection on the foggy mirror showed a woman with grayish skin, rings under her eyes, and three deep lines across her forehead. It was a good excuse as any to finally use Maura's present. Rummaging through her bathroom drawers, she found a bag full of almost untouched make up. Inside was the very expensive make up base Maura had given her. She smeared it as best as she could, then applied a bit of eyeliner, mascara and eye shadow.
Now her reflection was something she could bear to look at, if she ignored the mess she had for hair. She brushed it back, and tied it in a bun at the base of her head. Her neck would get cold, but at least she wouldn't look like the brunette version of the girl from Harry Potter.
With less than 30 minutes to meet Maura, she still had to get dressed. She opened her wardrobe and was faced with an assortment of gray and black clothing.
This gray jacket is not as nice as the other gray jacket.
No wonder you look like that.
Jane shook her head at the memory of Maura's voice, a smile curling her lips.
She shuffled coat hangers deciding what to wear. As she moved a jacket out of the way to get to her favorite pair of slacks, she touched her blue dress. She hadn't worn it for years.
"Nah. It's freezing, and I hate dresses."
